Every (internet) business needs to make decisions.

But how do you know which decision is the “right” one?

Short answer: you don’t. Long answer: do things, get feedback, do better things; repeat.

Build-Measure-Learn

This is the “build-measure-learn feedback loop” popularized by Eric Ries in his book titled “The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.” Have a look:

Let’s walk through a real-world application:

Build (Do things.)

On June 6th, 2023, I published my first YouTube video in English and haven’t stopped since!

Measure (Get feedback.)

I use software called Notion where I created a page called “Feedback.”

Every day, I read through the YouTube comments from the previous day.

Whenever I find something interesting, especially when people critique me in a constructive way that helps me understand their pain points or their way of thinking and why they were unsatisfied with the video, I add their feedback to my Notion page. What I do is simple:

1. Copy the comment.
2. Make some actionable notes.

Every month, I review all of the feedback comments that I’ve saved to my Notion page. Next, I evaluate which feedback I have received multiple times. That’s the feedback I implement next.

Learn (Do better things.)

In the beginning, my video’s audio was awful, and my viewers let me know about it.

Since then, I’ve worked very hard on improving the audio:

• I invested $1,000+ in audio equipment.
• I implemented best practices for the microphone setup.
• I learned how to optimize my audio during video editing.

Concept

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Fabian Frank Werner @fabifrankwerner “Make it your top goal to build the fastest iterating company the world has ever seen.” — Sam Altman 3:35 PM • Jun 22, 2024 0 Retweets 1 Likes

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For example: if I change a variable in my YouTube videos, I want to release that video not a month in the future but ideally right now to get instant feedback on the changed variable.

• Did people enjoy the video (and the changed variable)?
• What did they not enjoy (or did they even notice any change)?

Let’s assume that more people clicked on that video than on average; that’s great. Now, I will adjust all of the other videos and include that change in all of my future videos so they perform better as well.

Conclusion

1. Do things.
2. Get feedback.
3. Do better things.

Repeat…